The FINANCIAL -- According to RIA Novosti, the death toll from riots on May 2 in China's Muslim Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has risen to 140.

Riots began in the regional capital of Urumqi on May 2 when a group of protesters demanded an investigation into the deaths of two ethnic Uighurs killed in a fight with Han Chinese workers at a toy factory in late June.

Xinhua said protesters from the Uighur Muslim ethnic minority group began attacking ethnic Han pedestrians, burning vehicles and attacking buses with batons and rocks.

The news agency cited a spokesman for the regional government as saying that a total of 57 people died in the riots. The others died later in hospital. The spokesman said the death toll could still increase.

Xinhua said order in the region was partially restored, but the situation was still "tense."

Chinese authorities said the unrest had been "instigated" by forces outside of China.

"It was instigated and directed from abroad, and carried out by outlaws in the country," an official statement said on May 3.

AFP news agency quoted general secretary of the Uighur American Association in Washington Alim Seytoff as saying that police had begun "indiscriminately" shooting at protesting crowds.

Xinjiang's eight million Uighurs have complained of political, cultural and religious persecution by Beijing and there have been repeated calls by Uighurs for independence.

As the Russians dealt with the Somali pirates (glub-glub-glub), the Muslim jihadist types best realize that the Chinese do not care about world opinion, miranda rights or other assorted BS. They will grind you into dust without a care or concern. It’d be great if we had the same mindset while fighting a war for our survival.

BEIJING: Pakistan and China have "broken the back" of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), which China accuses of orchestrating attacks in its restive Xinjiang region, Pakistan's Interior Minister said in Beijing on Friday.

An alleged leader of the group, about which little is known, has been killed, Rehman Malik said at the end of a visit to discuss security cooperation between the two countries.

Most of the Muslim minority in China have been badly treated by ethnic Hans and very few are radicalized. My cousin who has visited that area of western China worries that the harsh treatment of all minorities, particularly Tibetans and Uighurs, will foment unrest in later years.

The Uighurs he knows are mostly professionals and not very religious. Like the Tibetans, they would like more control of their own communities in what is supposed to be an autonomous region. However, Han migrants are replacing Uighurs on apartment waiting lists and that is just one thing causing friction.

16
posted on 05/12/2010 11:14:17 AM PDT
by 12Gauge687
(Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice)

Riots began in the regional capital of Urumqi on May 2 when a group of protesters demanded an investigation into the deaths of two ethnic Uighurs killed in a fight with Han Chinese workers at a toy factory in late June.

Why does this sound like the start of a really, really bad 70's kung fu flick?

It’s actually a pretty interesting situation. Rational ChiComs would not want Islam inside their borders. But openly suppressing Islam would lead to jihad. Meanwhile the Uighur areas are attractive places to send their excess population to.

28
posted on 05/12/2010 2:15:26 PM PDT
by PapaBear3625
(Public healthcare looks like it will work as well as public housing did.)

Rational ChiComs would not want Islam inside their borders. Then they should stop occupying East Turkestan.

But openly suppressing Islam would lead to jihad. Meanwhile the Uighur areas are attractive places to send their excess population to. And all those people who go ballistic when Jews build in Jerusalem are silent.

29
posted on 05/12/2010 2:16:45 PM PDT
by rmlew
(There is no such thing as a Blue Dog Democrat; just liberals who lie.)

That's the issue. They desire the land, but not the people who currently occupy it. They may solve the problem the way we dealt with the Native Americans.

And all those people who go ballistic when Jews build in Jerusalem are silent.

The Israelis are vulnerable to shifting public opinion. The ChiComs do not care.

It's like South Africa. The Russians had horrible human rights records, but everybody piled on South Africa. Why? Because they could have an impact on South Africa, and the Russians did not care. Or if you made them care, they would respond with KGB hit teams against their bigger critics.

30
posted on 05/12/2010 3:31:42 PM PDT
by PapaBear3625
(Public healthcare looks like it will work as well as public housing did.)

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